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Spreading The
Foie Gras Message
An ancient delicacy is the focus of a new cookbook.
BARBARA PASH
Special to the Jewish News
Es
ichael Ginor has an
unusual passion. Foie
gras. Although most
commonly associated
with French haute cuisine, the fat-
tened duck or goose liver is a delica-
cy that dates to ancient Egypt.
Ginor has written a cookbook that
offers many more details on the topic.
The aptly named Foie Gras . . . A
Passion (John Wiley & Sons, $49.95)
has information on the his-
tory and production, as
well as recipes.
Kosher foie gras is popular
in Israel. The industry
began in 1948 when a
goose farmer from
Hungary who had
survived the
Holocaust convinced
agriculture officials to
let him open a farm near Tel
Aviv. The result was successfully sold
abroad, making it one of Israel's first
export products.
In the 1970s, a restaurant owner in
Tel Aviv began offering the fare. Now it
is sold in markets and by street vendors.
In fact, Ginor had his first taste of foie
gras in Israel, where it is often served
with flatbread and hummus.
Ginor was born in Seattle, the son
of Israeli parents. After graduating
from Brandeis University, both Ginor
and his wife, Laurie, went to work on
Wall Street. Four years later, though,
"we'd had enough. We felt we weren't
doing much for anyone, except our-
selves," said Ginor, now 36.
Ginor, convinced his wife to move
temporarily to Israel while he joined
the Israel Defense Forces.
He served 18 months in the Israel
army as a captain in the Gaza Strip,
patrol commander and IDF
spokesman. The cou-
ple then returned to
the United States
where Ginor had to
make a decision
about his future.
"I could return to
Wall Street, join my
father's firm or start something new
altogether," he recalled. One night,
during dinner at a restaurant that
served high-priced, low-
quality foie gras, the idea
for that "something new"
began to take shape.
The rebirth of the American
foie gras industry may well be
credited to Ginor and his
partner, Izzy Yanay, an Israeli
foie gras expert. Since the
U.S. Department of
Agriculture does not
allow the import of
foie gras into this
country, in 1990 the
pair founded the Hudson
Valley Foie Gras label. Today, the label,
representing several farms in upstate
New York, is the largest single producer
of foie gras in the world. Since it is not
produced under rabbinic supervision, as
foie gras in Israel is, the U.S. product is
not kosher.
But foie gras isn't his only pursuit.
Ginor, who writes for food/travel
magazines and conducts cross-culi-
nary tours among American and
Israeli chefs, founded Culinary
Brainwaves, which puts on gourmet
food events worldwide.
Ginor is also a partner in
Foodstuffs, a mail-order company
featuring food products created by
chefs who tend, he notes, "to be
artists, not businessmen." This year,
Ginor and various partners opened
restaurants in Sheraton's Harrod
Hotel, in Eilat, Israel, as well as in
New York City. E
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